Welcome to this meditation for patience and acceptance when faced with social anxiety.
Here you'll learn techniques to allow for what is happening within you rather than fight it.
This is the surefire way to move through anxious feelings and find the true confidence within you,
Ready to make valuable connections with others.
So get into a comfortable position,
Making sure you'll not be disturbed for this session,
And allow your eyes to close.
Bring about a memory of a time when you were experiencing social anxiety.
It could be recent,
Or long ago.
Either way,
Remember this time vividly,
And feel the sensations of anxiety rise in you.
Notice in your body where you feel any changes.
Study this feeling of stress in your body,
Of course,
Without judgment.
Look at it as if you were a scientist,
Examining the sensations termed anxiety.
What are they like?
If you could describe the feeling,
How would you?
Is it big,
Or is it small?
Tight or firm?
Where exactly are they located?
Are there any colors you can imagine that it has?
Keep examining through observation.
Now,
Go into the mental feeling that you associate with anxiety.
Look into your mind as if you had a flashlight,
Shining in the darkness.
What do you find when you look for anxiety?
Does it simply disappear when it's observed?
Sit with the body's sensations and mental awareness of anxiousness,
Taking note of the experience just like the scientist makes notes of their studies.
The more you observe and witness your stress,
The more you'll understand it,
Therefore loosening its grip from your life.
Good.
Becoming aware of your breath now,
Inhale deeply,
Feeling your belly expand and chest rise.
Exhale,
Allowing a wave of relaxation to sweep over you.
Take another deep breath in,
Imagining that you're inhaling patience,
And exhale feeling deep relaxation.
So one more deep breath in,
Feel your patience growing as you inhale,
And breathe out,
Feeling calm and comfortable.
Good.
This is your new solution to stress and anxiety.
The first step of action is to take three deep breaths,
Imagining on the inhale,
You're practicing acceptance and patience,
And as you exhale,
Take note of the relaxation it brings you.
This is something that only you can do,
And only you will feel the benefits that these three breaths bring you.
So use this technique whenever you encounter a social situation that is about to cause you anxiety.
Next,
You'll practice a hand relaxation technique that can be used at any time you're faced with social situation that might cause you anxiety.
So let your arms be completely relaxed,
Become aware of your fingertips,
In particular,
Your right thumb.
Slightly move your right thumb,
And feel the texture of what your thumb is touching.
As you move your thumb,
You're allowing yourself to accept your anxious feelings,
Instead of pushing them away.
Now let your thumb become still.
Deeply hear these words,
What I resist persists.
Now bring your focus to your left thumb,
Move it around a little,
Noticing what your thumb is touching and how it feels.
By moving each finger individually,
You're giving a command to your mind to allow the feelings of anxiety to exist,
And then move through you.
Okay,
You can stop moving your thumb now,
Hearing again this eternal truth,
What I resist,
Persists.
Now become aware of your right pointer finger.
Notice the sensation in your fingertip as you move it around ever so slightly.
Say to yourself as you move this finger,
I allow anxious feelings to rise and fall in me like a wave,
And then stop moving the finger.
Repeating the mantra,
What I resist persists.
So bring your awareness to your left pointer finger,
Moving it around just a little bit,
Also noticing that it's okay to feel anxious,
And by allowing this feeling,
You're letting it move through you,
And then stop moving.
What I resist persists.
Bringing awareness to your right middle finger,
Notice any sensations here as you slightly move only this finger around,
Confirming that you've accepted any anxious feelings,
And just relax.
What I resist persists.
Moving now in your left middle finger,
Just wiggle only this finger very slightly,
Noticing the sensations,
And saying to yourself,
Anxious feelings have a right to exist,
And then relax the finger.
What I resist persists.
Allow your focus to become centered only on your right ring finger.
You can move it just the tiniest amount so that you don't move any other fingers.
Taking note,
That nervousness in social situations simply comes and goes if you allow it to exist,
And stop.
What I resist persists.
Becoming aware of your left ring finger now,
Moving it ever so slightly,
Affirming that the way to move through bad feelings is to allow for them,
And relax.
What I resist persists.
Now we have the pinky on the right hand to focus on,
And as you move it around a little bit,
Noting the texture of whatever it lays upon,
Say to yourself,
It's okay to feel anxious.
The more I allow it,
The more easily it passes by,
And then stop moving your pinky.
What I resist persists.
Bring your awareness to your left pinky finger,
The last one.
Move it around slightly,
Noticing how this feels,
And say with conviction,
I do not push bad feelings away,
Just as I do not push good feelings away,
And stop moving your pinky.
What I resist persists.
When you stop moving your fingers,
You notice how relaxed your hands have become,
As well as your mental state is much more calm and clear.
Good.
Practice these techniques you've learned when you're presented with a real life social situation,
And notice the extreme benefit of all of these teachings.
You can open your eyes and rise for your meditation whenever you're ready.
Namaste.
